Chapter 67

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Persistent Overtures to the Cousins
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Perido's face filled with surprise as he tightly gripped Dia's hand and ducked behind her skirt.

“......Yes. Hello.”

Dia also hid her flustered gaze and responded a little slowly.

“Hmph.”

Garnet, standing beside Dia, shot Marin a sharp look before abruptly turning her head away.

Rubiana continued to gaze up at Marin with eyes full of curiosity.

“Then, we'll be going.”

Dia gave a slight bow and moved to leave right away.

“Um, Lady Adria.”

Marin cautiously called out to Dia as she turned her back.

Dia slowly turned around with an air of resignation, her whole body screaming that she didn't want to deal with this.

“......Yes.”

“I'm staying in the annex with you all.”

Dia's pale face visibly stiffened.

“Yes. The maid told me.”

“Won't it be uncomfortable for you?”

“What do you mean?”

Only then did Dia lift her head, meeting Marin's eyes with her deep green ones.

“You must want to rest comfortably, but having to share the place with a stranger. If it's inconvenient, I can ask His Grace the Duke—no, Gerald—whether we can move somewhere else.”

Dia listened silently to Marin's words with an expressionless gaze.

“No. I heard you were staying in the annex first. We'll be as careful as we can.”

Her words were impeccably polite, but they carried a thorough sense of distance.

“Sister, let's go already.”

Garnet, who had been standing beside her with a dissatisfied look the whole time, urged Dia on.

“Got it. Then, we'll be going.”

“Yes.”

Marin nodded as if to say, go on ahead.

As her sisters walked away, Rubiana turned back and gave a little wave.

Marin brightly smiled and waved back.

Spotting this, Garnet grabbed Rubiana's arm and yanked her forward, as if telling her not to engage.

“It hurts, Sister.”

“Don't greet just anyone.”

“She's not just anyone.”

“Listen to your sister.”

Marin stood there with a wry smile as the sound of the sisters bickering reached her.

She felt a wave of worry about whether she could ever get close to them.

Still, she had to try.

No—she wanted to.

The children, who had lost their parents in an instant, reminded her so much of herself. That's why they weighed on her heart.

* * *

The next day.

Marin deliberately wandered down to the second floor. They say familiarity breeds affection, so she planned to run into them as often as possible.

***

As she slowly walked the second-floor corridor, the door in the center opened.

Out came Garnet, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

“Hello......”

Slam.

The door shut hard before Marin could even finish her greeting.

It was an ironclad rejection.

The next day.

Marin deliberately loitered outside the annex in the late afternoon. Maybe the cousins would go for a walk like last time.

Sure enough, all four cousins emerged at once, dressed in mourning clothes.

“Hello. The weather's lovely today.”

Rumble. Thunder suddenly cracked across the clear sky.

Whoa, that startled me.

Startled, she looked up at the sky and saw dark clouds rolling in.

Wow, even the weather isn't helping.

“Sister, the weather's bad today. Let's go in.”

Garnet glanced at Marin with a triumphant gleam in her eyes before speaking to Dia.

“Yes. Then, we'll be going.”

Dia gave a slight bow and headed back inside the annex.

In the midst of it, Rubiana sneaked a little wave while watching her sisters' reactions.

Marin quickly smiled and waved back.

Even so, Marin watched them with worried eyes.

Dia and Garnet looked terribly worn out. They were so thin their jaws looked sharp.

Perido, clinging tightly to Dia's hand, wasn't much better. The six-year-old was gaunt, with dark circles under his eyes—he looked very ill.

Was it really just mutism from the shock?

Marin watched them enter the annex, lost in deep thought.

The next day.

Marin headed to the kitchen with Yuria.

When it had just been her and her mother in the annex, Yuria had brought food from the main building. But now with the Duke's cousins there too, three cooks from the main building had come to prepare meals.

As Marin entered the kitchen, the head chef, wearing a white hat, paused his food prep to greet her. Following his lead, the kitchen staff stopped what they were doing and bowed.

“Hello, Miss.”

“Good day, Miss.”

“Yes. Back to your work, everyone.”

Marin responded and approached the head chef.

“The food has been delicious. Thank you always.”

“It's my joy to hear you're enjoying it.”

The head chef beamed. Praise from a superior was a huge motivator.

“I know you're busy, but could you spare a moment?”

At Marin's polite request, the head chef quickly bowed his head.

The Duke's fiancée was just as kind to her inferiors as the rumors said.

“Yes. Of course.”

“I was wondering if His Grace's cousins are eating well.”

The head chef's bright expression darkened in an instant.

“I'm sorry. It seems I still haven't matched the young ladies' and young master's tastes.”

“They're not eating well?”

“They leave more than half the food.”

The head chef confessed honestly, looking crestfallen.

“Have you tried serving southern dishes?”

“Yes. That cook over there is from the south.”

***

The young cook stirring soup in the back bowed his head in greeting. Marin nodded back and listened to the head chef.

“Even when he makes southern dishes, they barely eat.”

The head chef hung his head guiltily.

An empty plate was like a medal to a cook. But the Duke's cousins only picked at their food and hardly ate.

“What about desserts?”

“They do eat a little of those.”

“Better than nothing, I suppose......”

Marin fell into thought.

If even southern food didn't suit their tastes, it had to be illness or something emotional, no matter how she thought about it.

“Oh, do you have any bananas?”

“Yes.”

Bananas were a fruit that grew only in the deep jungles of the south. She remembered a scene in the novel where the heroine and the cousins shared them.

“How about slicing bananas thin for a snack, putting them on pancakes, drizzling honey, and serving it to the cousins?”

“Yes. Understood.”

“And please don't mention that I suggested it.”

“Of course.”

The head chef replied right away, as if he understood.

Word must have already spread among the servants that things were tense between her and the cousins. With them openly avoiding her, rumors were inevitable.

After leaving the kitchen, Marin headed straight to Olive's office.

The cousins enjoyed bananas in the novel, but she couldn't feed them only that every day.

She needed a fundamental solution.

Marin knocked on the aide's office door and entered.

“Olive.”

“Yes, Miss Marin.”

“I have something to discuss.”

“Please, go ahead.”

Olive rose from his desk and gestured to the sofa.

He'd decided to keep reading reports, but she'd been excused from assisting him.

It was Olive's firm insistence that he couldn't impose on the Duke's fiancée.

“The cousins don't seem to be eating well. They're very thin. I'd like to arrange for the physician to see them.”

“We need to do that anyway for young master Perido......”

Olive trailed off with a worried look.

“Do they not want to see the physician?”

Olive gave a wry smile, as if she'd hit the nail on the head.

“Yes. They've already seen many doctors from the count's family. They all said it's a matter of the heart, so they don't want to see any more physicians.”